Broken Heart
by loverof naley
Summary: Coming to terms with your feelings. Haley realzing the family she thought she could count on will always let her down in some way.


**AN: This is a slight continuation of 7.10. So spoilers up to that episode I suppose if you haven't watched. I want to state right off the bat that I do not under any circumstances like Quinn. She's already proven what a terrible sister she is through the whole Renee scandal and leaving NH's house because there was ' too much drama'. After 7.10 I'm done with her. Haley deserves far more then a worthless disloyal sister. I'm a bit more favorable to Clay. But I totally agree with NH, friend or not he's a sucky agent that needed to be terminated. Yes, he messed up but he is not completely terrible like Quinn. Mark can take his new pet aka Peyton v2.0 and his v2.0 of LP with Clay and Quinn and shove where the sun don't shine. He needs to learn how to write new characters on their own merits instead of using two loved characters as a catalyst to garner sympathy and/or positive/negative responses for the newbies. The NH fan base are not fools. We see through the plan. Judging my some comments littered across the net I can see Mark once again succeeded in his mission to turn NH into villains and CQ into victims, especially Quinn. If viewers don't know this man's style of writing by now, sad. That is all. He tried to make Haley and Nathan seem completely cold and unjustified(they were) all for CQ. Give me a damn break, Schwahn. Going off rumors TPTB know the character of Quinn is not very liked within the fandom. Same for the actress portraying her. This was an clear attempt on their part to swing people in her favor.I am NO FOOL. His planned failed terribly. **

**Anyway enough with my rambling. I hope you enjoy. This is mostly Haley focused with some Nathan and Quinn.**

**Broken Heart**

She continuously tapped her uncapped ink pen atop the shiny black piano that occupied the office of red bedroom records. To say her life of late had been extremely stressful over the last few months would be an gross understatement.

After dealing with the whole Renee scandal things were supposed to be good, normal. Just yesterday they'd been so happy, she returned to the stage. Nathan's new contract was within reach, Jamie was happier then ever, but today that was all in the crapper.

Nathan was now jobless without any prospects forcing him to terminate Clay as his agent, tension between her and Quinn was at an all time high ,and their family's uncertain future sat weighing heavily at the forefront of her mind. What were they going to do now. With Nathan's basketball career halted and her incomplete album in limbo ,things were shaky at best. Being the tutorgirl that she was known for Haley had always made sure to pinch and save on the side for a rainy day. They weren't in immediately danger of falling into the poor house but money would run out over a long haul if push came to shove. The mere thought of it had her eyes welling in tears. God forbid her or Nathan had to dig into Jamie's college fund just to make ends meet.

She ran her hands through her thick mane of curls while releasing a sad sigh. Why did these things always happen to them? They could never be happy without some outside force threatening to take everything they had worked so hard to build over the years. Why could they never catch a break, they were good loving people. Just to live a happy normal life as a family-was it really too much to ask?

She could not break, not now .Nathan and James counted on her strength and guidance in times of trouble. Any fear or confusion she may of felt would have to be buried behind a wall of fierce strong never say die Haley James Scott. No way in hell would her family collapse under this, not after everything. Losing was not an option while she was leading the charge. She would fight for Nathan, fight for Jamie, for herself ,and most importantly their family.

With her head buried into the bend of her arms, Haley had nit seen her distressed husband examining her every move through the wide glass window. She knew of he' d seen her in this state there would be no denying her feelings. She was scared out of her mind.

Haley jolted up at the noise to see him lightly knocking on the glass. Their eyes locked immediately in silent understanding. Things weren't. Looking good but they never had to pretend it was, not with each other. Nathan gave a small smile that Haley managed to return while waving him into the room to join her.

"Hey you. Are you ok?" he asked with a gentle rub of her back.

She silently nodded afraid of her own voice. Hearing the concern in his words had that perfectly coifed wall crumbling around her immediately. She could not be this weak.

"Hales, you can tell me the truth", he continued. "You know that you don't always have to be so strong."

With that she melted into his awaiting arms no longer able to continue on with her act. The endless sobs came tumbling out shaking her small frame uncontrollably.

Nathan never seen her so broken. Her usually bright eyes were dim with worry, her smiles never quite reached anymore. Something was broken and that scared hm far more then being unemployed.

He comforting continuing to cradle her body into his arms while whispering soothing words and giving gentle caresses over her arms and back. He lay a few kisses upon her tear soaked cheeks before meeting her lips softly, the taste of his wife's tears evident.

Haley suddenly pulled away without warning wiping furiously at her face. She used the sleeve of her sweater to erase the evidence of her breakdown. Nathan watched as each piece of determination and will returned to her within seconds. No doubt in his mind she was embarrassed or completely disgusted at being so weak.

"Haley..."

"I'm okay." Lies.

Two words that were the farthest thing from the truth.

She immediately focused her attention to the notebook on front of her to avoid eye contact with Nathan. She could feel his eyes burning with concern as he watched her worriedly.

"Let me take you home." was all he said. If he learned anything over the years it wad that Haley would talk when she was ready.

"I can't Nathan. I have a lot of work to get done. I have to send out a press release for Mia's tour .I have to finish writing this song and then lay down a few vocals for it. I have to call Miranda and update her on my progress. You know how much a bitch she can be. Besides, I can't afford to lose this job. We sort of need the money," she tried to joke, obviously falling flat in her attempt.

Nathan sighed heavily trying not to show his own frustration with everything.

"Ok". he gave in easily. "If you won't come home will you at least talk to your sister?", he asked.

He now watched the abrupt change in her body language go from one of worry and fear to strong determination and now raging fury at the mention of Quinn. He had to stop himself from gulping too loudly in hopes of escaping her wrath unscathed.

"You're kidding ,right? There is no way I'm talking to her Nathan .I can't believe you would even suggest it!"

He couldn't believe it either to be quite honest. Not after everything that had happened. But he knew this thing between Haley and her sister weighed heavily on his wife's mind. Quinn was her sister regardless of anything .As someone who had an fight or two with his own brother over the years , Nathan knew the importance of forgiveness. Haley would certainly not allow for him and Lucas to remain split over any issue for too long, he wouldn't allow the relationship with her sister jeopardized either.

"I really think you should reconsider."

"Nath....

"Hear me out", he stopped her before she could shut him down again.

'I know things were said, feelings were hurt, and you're upset. But Hales she is your sister. Maybe you should talk to her and work things out."

Her head shook side to side stubbornly. "I can't, I won't. I don't know if you realize how much she hurt me Nathan", she said sadly. "I don't think we can ever get passed this", her voice cracked with emotion. It broke her heart to utter such words. This was her Quinny.

"Baby", he scooted closer bringing his hand to her face. "I 'm sorry she hurt you. I'm sorry for everything you have been through lately, and more then anything I'm sorry that I let you down again."

"Nathan, no. You didn't let me down. I'm so proud of you. I'm sad for many things, our family, my relationship with Quinn, our relationship with Clay. You never let me down. Truth is I would be a complete wreck without you by my side."

"God I love you so much. You're my world Hales. You and Jamie makes the bad things seem ok. I just want you happy no matter what. I know how much your family means to you. They're apart of you and everything that makes you happy, you can't deny it. Talk to Quinn. I promise you will feel so much better", he kissed her forehead.

They sat in silence letting it all absorb. Haley knew Nathan was right. Her family meant the world to her which made this thing with Quinn that much harder.

"I'm not interrupting am I? Nathan called me over, I didn't mean to intrude." Quinn stood in the doorway looking completely nervous.

Haley stared with mixture of shock and betrayal swirling in her eyes.

The only thing Nathan couldn't figure out was if it were directed toward him or Quinn. He slowly released obviously stunned Haley from his arms and stood.

"I'll let the two of you have some privacy." It was then her eyes met his with silent pleading. She was not ready to talk to anyone, especially not Quinn.

Nathan gave an encouraging squeeze of her arm followed by a tender kiss on her lips. She could do this, Haley was the strongest person he knew.

"Talk", he further encouraged. "Jamie and I will see you for dinner.". And with that he was gone leaving the two sisters awkwardly staring into space. The silence was deafening.

"Can we talk?" Quinn finally spoke.

"I think we've said it all Quinn." she responded, her shoulders slumping in defeat.

"We have to fix this, Hales. Things can't be this way, not with us."

"You want to fix this? Really? After everything that happened you think we can magically go back to the way things were?"

"Yes, I do. I know we can," Quinn implored.

"It's not possible. Things will never be the same between us. I think we both need to come to grips with that fact."

"Please don't say things like that."

"What...the truth? Do you know how alone I feel? To have the person who promised to protect me over all the rainbows and sunrises when I was a kid just fail me so horribly when I needed her support. I remember that day, Quinn. You sat me on the front porch of our house and promised me. You tied my hair in my favorite bows, gave me lollipop and spent the whole day with your little sister. I remember." she whispered painfully.

"So for you to choose a side in all this, to choose Clay over your sister, as if I were no consequence, like my problems were irrelevant - it hurts like hell. You chose someone else. How sad is that? I guess I don't rank high enough on your list of importance."

"Hales. that's not true. I love you, of course you're important."

"No, I'm not." she said with much sadness. "You want to know how important I am- you should realize your lack of concern for me and Jamie was a hard pill to swallow. I get you have feelings for Clay, trust me, I do. He's a great guy. We love him too. But he messed. up regardless. Despite what you think, our firing of him has nothing to do with you and everything to do with him screwing up. It was such a hard thing for Nathan and I to do, but it had to be done."

"The fact that you couldn't see it really saddens me. Here, my sister worried so much for Clay but not giving a damn about me or my son, our family. It was all about Clay losing his job for you. How this was affecting Clay. Well guess what Quinn, Nathan lost his job too. This is affecting me too in ways you couldn't even begin to imagine. Our family is without funds coming in .Did Jamie ever cross your mind? You know your sister's only child, or did you somehow forget him too. You didn't seem to grasp the ramifications of that blown deal. You went straight into defending Clay against Nathan and I like we were some heartless strangers committing a wrong. Our future is in just as much trouble as Clay's but with one major difference, we have a child relying on us. Maybe you don't understand that because you're not a mother but it's the most important thing in this world. Nathan and I work so hard to secure his and our future and it was taken away from us just like that. You didn't care one bit or give thought to our reasoning. You attacked us for trying to dig ourselves out of a pretty sucky situation all around."

"I do care it's just that Clay has things going in and....

"We all have things going on Quinn .Guess what, that's life. No matter what heartaches and problems we go through we all must push forth and live productively. My life hasn't exactly been perfect but you know what, I will never stop fighting for my family, ever."

"What can I do to prove you matter?" Quinn asked.

"Nothing. If anything I've learned what I always knew, I'm alone. The only thing I can completely count on in this world is Nathan and Jamie."

"That's not true ,Haley."

"Oh but it is. You see Quinn this was the final straw in a line of disappointment for me with our family. I never had you guys for support, I'm just sorry it took so long for me to realize it. Maybe I could've saved myself some heartache over the years."

"It's not true. You have us, you always did."

"Oh really? Shall we review? Viv and Brian were off getting married and starting families before I hit middle school. JJ was off traveling the country doing his own thing. You and Tay were in high school with social calendars stretching miles long. You were a in freshman year in college when I was starting high school and Taylor wouldn't dare be seen with a freshman, let alone her baby sister by her side. I never felt resentful of any of it because everyone had their lives to live. It just would've been nice to feel important sometimes."

"You are Haley bop. You're our baby sister who we love more then anything."

"The same sister none of you gave a second thought to once you left town? The same sister who was pregnant and run down within an inch of losing her life, her baby's life. The sister who was nearly killed by some deranged woman? Or how about the sister that still needed you all despite being married? What are we talking about here Quinn because I'm not understanding. Mom and dad were leaving town two seconds after I said 'I do'. They couldn't get away from this town and me fast enough. Do you know how that feels?"

"No", she admitted feeling some shame.

"Of course you don't. But I'm not a little girl anymore Quinn. I grew up and with it life's lessons were learned. I guess the tutorgirl wasn't so smart when it came to her own goddamned family. You want to know the irony of all this- when you showed up for Jamie's party and told me you were staying in tree hill- I was over the moon," her voice hitched.

"I thought finally I have someone outside of Nathan and Jamie that will always care about me, protect me. But you're here Quinn and I feel more alone and empty then ever. My sister turned her back and left me alone , again. That hurts far more then you ever imagine.

"So yeah Nathan and I will be ok. We'll find our way, we always do .It just won't include you. It's really unfortunate but that's the choice you made when you walked out of my house without an ounce of concern for me or your nephew. I love you Quinn, I just don't like you very much at the moment."

Quinn stood heartbroken tears running down her face seeing her distraught sister .How would things ever be ok? Never could she imagine all the things Haley felt over the years. She was stunned by it all if she was being honest.

"Now if you'll excuse me I have lots of work to get done",Haley said wiping her own tears. "My family is waiting for me."

She turned away from Quinn no longer being able to look into her pained eyes, the same pain undoubtedly reflecting in her own. She wanted to be anywhere but here. This hurt like hell to admit years of festering resentment, hurt , and anger.

"I'm sorry." she heard Quinn whimper before exiting the studio.

Haley's eyes clinched tightly trying ease the pain of it all. 'I'm sorry' , two little words that had the ability to make such an impact but somehow seem so empty in that moment.

"I'm sorry too", Haley whispered into the quiet of the room.

Somehow it wasn't enough. The damage was done.

**The end**

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